The System
by HannahWing
Summary: After the death of his mother, four year old Christian becomes one of the half million children in foster care in the United States. Instead of being adopted by the Greys, he falls into a life of crime and violence.


"When is my mommy coming to get me?"

It was the first time that the small boy had spoken since he had arrived at the group home two days ago. He was sitting curled up on the bottom bunk in a room that he shared with two other boys. He spoke to a young man who had been clearing his uneaten breakfast from the nightstand to make room for the lunch that he had brought up, hoping that the boy would finally eat something. Daniel had been assigned as Christian's primary caretaker on the day he arrived and he hadn't been able to get him to so much as open his mouth for food.

The young man sat down on the bed next to the Christian. The boy retreat away from him, pressing himself closer to the wall. "Your mommy won't be able to come get you, but we're going to find a nice family for you to live with, does that sound good?"

The boy shook his head and curled his body tighter. "No, I need to go home with my mommy. She needs me."

Daniel clenched his fists to keep from reaching his arms out to hug the little ball that was cowering away from him. He wanted to pull him out of himself and tell him that everything would be okay. The staff was under directions not to make physical contact with the child, but they hardly needed to be told. No one in the house had been able to get within arms reach of him without sending him into a screaming shock.

"Your mommy wants you to be happy so you have to try to eat something okay?"

The boy shook his head. "I'm worried." His voice was a whisper.

"What are you worried about, Christian. Can you tell me about it?"

Christians' eyes were gazing out without any expression. His caretaker could tell that he wasn't looking at anything in the room. He had gone inside himself to some frightening memory where no one could reach him.

His mouth moved, but now the words were so quiet that Daniel almost didn't hear them.

"I can't tell you about it." He paused for a long time. His voice raised almost to a whisper. "I don't think mommy's okay."

What could Daniel say? This child wasn't ready to be told that his mother was dead.

"You're going to be okay Christian. We're going to take care of you."

"And mommy? Will you take care of mommy too?"

Daniel's voice broke just a tiny bit. "My job is to take care of you. I'm going to make sure that you're safe from now on."

The boy didn't say anything. His eyes were glazed over. He had gone back into his world of memories. Daniel didn't want to leave him, but he had to get back to the office. He could help Christian more by finding him a foster family, than he could sitting here, helplessly locked out of this little boy's tortured world.

"I'm going to leave the room now Christian, but I'm just going to be in my office across the hallway if you need me, okay?" He spoke slowly, but he knew that Christian couldn't hear him. He had gone too far inside himself. Daniel gathered the untouched breakfast and left the room.

Daniel ran a hand through his hair as he sat down in the staff office. He had almost run through the list of home fostering agencies. No one had vacancies right now. The only agency that he had left to call was a religious organization that tried to match children from Catholic homes with Catholic foster families. Daniel knew very little about Christian's home life, but he was sure it hadn't been a religious one. He dialed the number anyways. He had too much to lose. He knew that the system was only going to break the boy more the longer he stayed in it. He had seen children 'age out of the system' before. He needed a home, a family, someone to teach him how to love and be loved.

_He may never have heard the words, 'I love you' in his life._

If Christian stayed in the system, it meant that he may stay in his dark little world forever.

An old woman picked up the phone at the fostering agency.

"Hello, this is Daniel Laconse from Michigan Youth Resources group home. I'm calling to inquire if you have any foster placements available for a four year old boy at the moment."

The old woman's voice was hesitant. "Does he have a certificate of Catholic baptism?"

"I'm not sure." Daniel's hopes began to sink.

"Are his parents practicing Catholic?"

"I don't know ma'am. His mother is deceased. We have no information regarding his father, but we have no reason to believe that he was in the boys life. Please, I'm begging you, if you have a placement, this boy really needs to be with a healthy family."

The woman's wall of resistance broke slightly. "We have one placement available. If you fax me his file details, I'll give them a call and let you know if they can take him right now."

"Thank you so much, ma'am, you have no idea what a difference this could make in this kid's life." He was talking fast with excitement.

"mhhmm okay, bye then." The woman hung up without giving Daniel a chance to say goodbye.

It was less than an hour since he had faxed Christian's file that Daniel received the phone call.

"We'll take him."

Daniel had known that this would be her answer as soon as she said she would look at Christian's file. After reading what that child had been through, anyone would do whatever they could to help him.


End file.
